Part 3 Ch.7

"Put your hands up behind your head." "We both know that's not going to happen, Carson." I spread my hand peacefully and open a portal behind him. It swallows him up in an instant. I look up at the others, they're doing the job nicely. Valentina's plasma blasts shoot out from her hands as Paxton arms the bomb. Some of the OCIU is here and the rest is coming to defend their post in the docks. Paxton catches my eyes and nods, he know what I'm about to do. I open a portal under me and disappear. Carson is disorientated and stumbles a little but when he sees me again, he keeps his gun trained on me. For a second his eyes take in the landscape and his lips twitch in a grim smile. Through his mask, I see his blue eyes focus on me again, they seem to shine in the dark. "Again? The Vrann Mountains? Elenora, you're getting predictable in your old age." I look around. It's night here too, the stars seem brighter than I've seen them in a long time. But from the full moon, there's enough light to see Carson, it paints everything in a sleepy silver light. "I'm a sucker for dramatics." I tell him. The banter slips casually out of my mouth as if the years haven't passed. "Besides, there's no metal here. I count that as a win." "There's metal everywhere. You've just got to learn to look for it." A glint of light flashes forwards but I'm prepared. I wrap a portal around me and the handcuffs go flying in. The portal closes before he can summon them again. "Neat trick." He says dryly. "But I'm going to have to ask you to come with me. Your people are surely being overwhelmed by the OCUI right about now." Through my earpiece, I see Paxton yelling orders at our teammates. Despite what Carson says, we're clearly not losing. "We'll see." I say. We stare at each other for a few seconds. He knows I could disappear in an instant if he approaches, so he doesn't. And I know he won't hesitate to pull the trigger, so I don't. "I kept thinking you would die." He finally says. The gun is still trained on me. "But you just showed up on the news year after year. I was relieved, I remember thinking that even if the bank lost some money, at least you were alive. And then people started showing up dead. And I knew that whoever you were once is long gone. Isn't she, Amara." "I could say the same thing about you." I say with sudden force. "You think you're better than me, Carson? You don't get to pretend to have a higher moral ground when you shoot people dead. At least I have the guts to know who I am." "And who are you? Amara or Elenora? I don't even know what to call you. A mafia leader who-" "You know, I really hate that word. Mafia. It's not what we are." "Well I think mafia sums what you are pretty nicely. You're in a criminal organization who kills people. " "And you're not? Oh yeah, I can see the differences between our jobs quite clearly." I spit out sarcastically. "You can pretend to draw the line between us all you want, Carson, but that doesn't change what I do or what you've done." For a moment he seems so angry that I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled the trigger. "Is the Deathman dead?" "What do you mean?" Now I'm quite confused. Carson shakes his head, his fingers twitch besides his gun. "It's a simple question. Is Deathman dead?" He looks up at the stars for a second as if begging for patience. "Because all there have been of him are rumors; which leaves us to wonder that that's all there is." "Seriously? Is this what you want to talk about? Last time we saw each other, you tried to kill me and we're talking about him?" I remind myself that there's a gun pointed at me and try to calm down. "Fine. Yes, Carson. He's still alive. Any more questions?" His eyes look dark in the moonlight. "You're lying. You've gotten better at it, I'll give you that. But your voice still changes a little when you try to fool someone." I hesitate for a fraction of a second and he notices. "You absolute idiot!" He suddenly exclaims, waving his hands around. "The only person who was holding you there is dead and you still stayed. You could have been home by now, Elenora. Are you so utterly brainwashed that you are loyal to the people who imprisoned you once? You know, there's a word for what you have. Stockholm Syndrome." "That's enough." "What? You don't like how the truth sounds? Tough. Because as long as I'm here, that's all you're going to get." "If you keep this up, you won't be around any more." "A threat! Now you're threatening me." He laughs without humor. "Your time with the Yellow Thorns truly has changed you. Before, you couldn't deliver a threat to save your life." I hear a sudden rush of static through the Bluetooth in my ear. "We're finished." Paxton's voice says. "Get us out of here." Carson crosses his arms. I notice he's put his gun away. "Let me guess, this is the part where you leave me here." "Shut up." I open a portal and step through. Valentina grins when she sees me. "Just in time. This place is rigged to blow." She yells over the sounds of the fire. Curiously, the fire that results from her blasts always take a bluish tinge around the edges. It makes them seem as if something from a dream. In the distance I hear the approaching sounds of sirens, both from the police and the fire department. I grin at my people and open a portal "Good job, everyone." As soon as they're through, I take one last look and go. We've decided to have a meeting after the mission. The others are barely sitting down, I notice that like Paxton, Valentina and Nathaniel have slightly smoked clothing; despite this, they seem to be in a good mood. The trade with Romano is going well so far. It's only just begun but we can already see the changed in our income. And we've dealt the first of the many more hits to come against the OCIU. It's enough to put most of us in good spirits. But as always, Andrea is the exception. "I don't think we should be celebrating just yet." She tells us, frowning. "Oh?" I say, opening up a bottle of wine. I take care to say it in the most uninterested manner but she takes this as an invitation to go on. "This is only the beginning. It's too soon to see how things will eventually go. Sure, the Ravagers are polite now but what will we do when they're not." Andrea says. She has a point and I'm not proud enough not to listen to it. Usually. "You're right, Andrea. This is also partly why I summoned you all so soon after the last attack." I meet the other's eyes as I hand out the glasses of wine. They pass it around, filling their own glasses as I talk. "We need an army. An organized unit- it doesn't have to be big but it has to be good. Romero is unpredictable and so is the OCIU but we need a front line. We can't do it with just us. The raid today was successful, that I'll grant, but as much as I love the excitement, we can't be the front lines. If we fall, it will be difficult to find a replacement. Every one sitting here in this table is no more important than the person next to them. We as individuals are making this work and we can't afford to lose any single one of us." Valentina nods. I can tell they like this idea. "With the help of Cosmo, we've gathered the names and details of everyone who will potentially be in the army." Paxton speaks up, bringing out a folder. "They're not a lot but they're powerful. And better yet, professionals. Ex-soldiers who are experienced in fighting." "We're hiring mercenaries now?" Nathaniel says doubtfully. "What if they go rouge." "Are people from the streets any more trustworthy than them?" I ask. "Anyway, we have Andrea to keep their loyalty." "We do need the protection." Valentina says. "The west is doing well lately but Paxton tells me his side is the focus of the OCIUs raids." Cosmo sniffs his wine and lifts an eyebrow. "The southern docks are closer to the open ocean, which is where most of our trade comes from. So the attacks aren't that surprising. But if we could split the incoming trades with the west docks, in the meantime... I feel we would be on pretty solid ground." "Excellent." I smile. "Next week when we meet, I will have arranged the specifics. There'a something else..." The meeting goes on as it always does: planning the future and dealing with the present. But there's a glint in everyone's eyes. After these past few months, we've finally fought back. We have the Ravagers on our side for the moment and we will not fall to the OCIU.